Many are familiar with Boulder's modern architect, Charles Haertling, but fewer people know the name Tician Papachristou.

He is the one who got away.

Papachristou designed distinctive mid-century homes in Boulder that feature economical and innovative materials including concrete, cinder blocks, wood and glass. The architect lists Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, as well as Greek Island architecture, as his primary influences.

His buildings are noted in the 2000 report, "Historic Context and Survey of Modern Architecture in Boulder, Colorado 1947-1977." (Available at the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History.) Several of Papachristou's homes, if not all, will be considered for city of Boulder landmarking in the future.

Papachristou was born in Athens, Greece, in 1928. He earned both an undergraduate degree and a Master of Fine Arts degree at Princeton University. In a recent telephone interview, Papachristou, now in his 80s and retired, recounted how he and his wife, Judith, a recent Barnard College graduate, moved west. Papachristou secured a job by mail with Boulder architect James Hunter. The couple then packed up all of their belongings and traveled to Colorado by Greyhound bus in 1954.

He worked for Hunter until 1956, then opened his own office. A year later, Charles Haertling joined his firm at 1245 Pearl Street. From 1958 to 1962, Papachristou also taught design at the University of Colorado.

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Surprisingly, the architect was a little older than 30 when he designed more than a dozen modernistic residences in Boulder. His favorite of the buildings is a pair of homes on Euclid Avenue, one circular and one rectangular. He designed them for two CU faculty members who had purchased a lot together.

"All of my clients in Boulder were so wonderful," he remembers. "Boulder was a place that was ready to accept new ideas and fresh things."

Papachristou is also fond of the angular Sampson House on King Avenue.

Papachristou worked with friend Walter Orr Roberts on selecting the site and architect for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in 1960. They flew six prospective architects to the Table Mountain site by helicopter, he remembers. I. M. Pei was chosen the architect for the project.

Papachristou became friendly with Pei while working on the NCAR Project, and during a dinner one night, Papachristou recalls, Pei remarked, "A guy like you should be in New York City."

That notion inspired Papachristou. He decided then that he wanted to move to the city and, shortly thereafter, asked Pei to help him find work. Pei recommended him to renowned Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer. Papachristou joined Breuer's firm in 1965, and by 1974 he was a partner.

It's common to mistake Papachristou's work for Haertling's and indeed there are many similarities. Papachristou says they both were doing things that were out of the ordinary but readily adds that the work done by "Chuck," as Papachristou refers to him, was even more unusual and imaginative.

In 2000, the retired architect wrote some of his memories for Boulder's modern architecture survey. He stated that many of his first clients were young and poor and asked, "We have no money, three kids and would like something exciting, different. What can you do for us?"

Papachristou remembered that something extraordinary was happening in the city of Boulder in the 1950s and 1960s. Boulder was "unusually friendly to modern avant-garde design," he wrote. "The city's small population provided the impetus for the making of interesting, experimental, even outrageous works of architecture."

"As for my clients being poor, many houses were built at surprisingly low cost (would you believe $16 per square foot?), adding social responsibility to the delight of visual discovery."

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